Until very recent times, one of the most tangible arguments of the Shakespeareans was that Bacon had not claimed the authorship of the Plays. That argument, if it has not now been thrown down, is, at least, suspended. The existence of the bi-literal cipher which Mrs. Gallup preaches, though vigorously attacked, has not yet been exploded. But if the cipher which contains these claims is verified, in the face of all circumstantial evidence that prove the claims to be baseless and preposterous, we are practically convicting Bacon of one of the greatest and most impudent literary frauds that was ever perpetrated. Yet that is what I am prepared to find is the case. Nor am I without warrant for holding this opinion. When the existence of the bi-literal, and the word-cipher has been acknowledged, we shall find that there are four other forms of cipher, the “Capital Letter; Time, or as more oft called, Clocke; Symboll; and Anagrammaticke ... which wee have us’d in a few of owr bookes.” These ciphers are now being applied to decipher other messages which Bacon sent down the ages by this secret medium. Of the nature of these claims, I am, at the moment, unable to speak, but I am in a position to say that the contents are more sensational than any that have yet been revealed. The absolute proof of the authorship of the Plays is promised--but again we shall get no more than what Bacon considered constituted proof. In reality, it will form part of a gigantic fraud committed by one of the cleverest men that ever lived, it will disclose the flaw in “the most exquisitely constructed intellect that has ever been bestowed on any of the children of men;” it will prove, up to the hilt, the madness of Francis Bacon. FINIS. _E. Goodman & Son, Phœnix Printing Works, Taunton._ Works by the same Author COMPRISING: A HISTORY OF AUSTRALIA THE DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA _SECOND EDITION._ THE EXPLORATION OF AUSTRALIA _SECOND EDITION._ PUBLISHED BY DEAN & SON, LIMITED, 160A, FLEET STREET. Transcriber’s Notes Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed. Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced quotation marks retained. Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained. Page 37: Paragraph beginning “In spite, however, of all positive evidence to the contrary” contains an unbalanced quotation mark. Page 56: Removed an unmatched single quotation mark just before “the” in “Imagine Juliet as the party, loved”. Page 63: Paragraph beginning “The inaccurately described bi-literal cipher” contains an unbalanced quotation mark. Page 69: Closing quotation mark added at the end of the two-line verse beginning with “So long as men can breathe, or eyes”. Page 99: Paragraph beginning “Even at the risk of wearying my readers” contains an unbalanced quotation mark near the end of the paragraph.